There’s a great post at NeuroDojo on the Heffernan business this weekend, and what the take-away ought to be: Yeah, let’s criticize that she didn’t get past the first impression of science blogs. We should expect Heffernan to look before leaping – she writes for the Times, after all, which still has a certain reputation… Continue reading Virginia Heffernan Is Our Target Audience
Month: August 2010
How Do Superconductors Work?
In the reader request thread, Brad asks about superconductors: Why is a room temperature superconductor so hard? Why do things have to be cold for there to be no resistance (I can guess, but my knowledge of super conductors consists of the words “Cooper pairs” which does not get me very far.) Since next year… Continue reading How Do Superconductors Work?
Links for 2010-08-03
Scientopia A new non-profit science blog collective, including several people who left ScienceBlogs in Sodamageddon. (tags: science blogs internet academia) Experimental Error: Don’t Try This at Home – Science Careers – Biotech, Pharmaceutical, Faculty, Postdoc jobs on Science Careers “So if you’re Doktor Kaboom!, Professor Ker-Splat, or Nobel Laureate “I Didn’t Think It Would Blow… Continue reading Links for 2010-08-03
Quantum Measurement Lotto
Thoreau at Unqualified Offerings gets credit for inspiring two posts today with his proposed Murphy’s Law experiment and this one, about an unrelated issue in quantum measurement. This is an analogy suggested by a colleague a couple of years ago, comparing the projection of a quantum wavefunction in the measurement process to the lottery. The… Continue reading Quantum Measurement Lotto
Murphy Violation in Science
Over at Unqualified Offerings, Thoreau proposes an an experimental test of Murphy’s Law using the lottery. While amusing, it’s ultimately flawed– Murphy’s Law is something of the form: Anything that can go wrong, will. Accordingly, it can only properly be applied to situations in which there is a reasonable expectation of success, unless something goes… Continue reading Murphy Violation in Science
The Full Seminar Experience
Avi Steiner emailed me with a set of questions that are too good not to turn into a blog post: Being a math/science major at a small liberal arts college, I unfortunately never get the “full” experience of a math/science talk. Since I do plan on eventually attending grad school, I thought it might be… Continue reading The Full Seminar Experience
Links for 2010-08-02
Busted Explanations for Karate Breaking | Rennie’s Last Nerve “Martial arts are my hobby and explaining science is my job, so the recent appearance of “How karate chops break concrete blocks” on io9.com naturally caught my eye. Unfortunately, not only did it fall far short of my hopes of offering a lucid explanation, it parroted… Continue reading Links for 2010-08-02
A Reason Why Paper Books Will Survive
Every couple of weeks, there’s another bunch of stories about how e-books are transforming the world, and paper books will soon survive only as collectible fetish objects. It occurred to me this morning that I share a house with a reason why paper books will be around for a while yet, at least in some… Continue reading A Reason Why Paper Books Will Survive
My Hugo Awards Ballot
The voting for the 2010 Hugo Awards closed last night. I sent in my ballot yesterday, but I’m trying to limit my computer time this weekend, so I didn’t post about it until today. The following lists are my votes, with miscellaneous commentary. The Hugos use a complicated vote-counting scheme, including a “No Award” option… Continue reading My Hugo Awards Ballot
Links for 2010-08-01
Kwiat Quantum Information Group The quantum physics version of “24.” Can Professor Paul Kwiat save his research group from striking grad students, visiting sponsors, broken lasers and a missing password without violating the University of Illinois ethics regulations? (tags: physics academia silly video television quantum) Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts /… Continue reading Links for 2010-08-01